Bloom Theory Straps

My sweet friend Ellie shared these Bloom Theory Straps with me knowing that I would LOVE them. Really, I'm obsessed. I'm thinking that I may have to splurge and buy one for myself in celebration of shooting my first wedding in June. I love them all, but am particular fond of Petite Cherie, Bohemian Belle, Stardust I, and Ocean Mist. Moonshine reminds me of my wedding dress.
Sigh, so pretty.

Be proud and brag

I love this little piece of advice on married life:

5. Be proud and brag.
Let your spouse hear you talking about them in glowing terms to other people. Be foolish. Be obvious. It will mean everything. You will stay married forever.

I'm so proud of Bob. He is one of the most intelligent, hard-working, loving, and dependable people that I know. Just thinking about that makes my heart swell.

That's all.

Read the rest of Lydia's advice here.

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Baby bump

I have been busy working on a lot of photos lately. I just finished this baby bump shoot with a very adorable family. This weekend I have a family photo session and just around the corner are my very first two weddings. I truly love working on my photography. It brings me so much joy. I hope you'll have a look...

Rosemary chicken salad sammies

I have a hate-hate relationship with white food. Generally for me that includes the Big Four: mayo, sour cream, cream cheese, and cottage cheese. It also expands to include some very specific conditions... I will eat ranch dressing, but only for dipping fried broccoli. I will eat vanilla ice cream, but only if it's got a topping.

My disgust with white food has resulted in me turning up my nose to any food with the word "salad" in it for pretty much my entire life. Egg salad, macaroni salad, chicken salad... until now. This weekend I ventured out of my comfort zone and made the most delicious, barely white, rosemary chicken salad sandwiches. Made with fat free yogurt and just a bit of olive oil mayo, these tasty sandwiches were not the sloppy white mess I typically expect - and, they were fairly healthy. I highly recommend them!

Do you have any food phobias?

Derby weekend

Will you be watching the Kentucky Derby this weekend? I would love to go sometime. The big hats, the seersucker, the mint juleps... sounds like so much fun! I've been to Keeneland before, which was great fun. But the Derby, now that's the real deal. The horses' names are probably my favorite part. Went The Day Well is my favorite this year. Although I have a rule of never wagering my own money, I do love the excitement around the races.

In fact, when I went to Keeneland with my friend Gina and her brother Mike, we met a horse trainer form California. Mike kept trying to make me ask him which horse to bet on. I was too embarrassed to ask, but when I saw him later that day he said in passing, "Boy, XYZ horse sure looks good today." I told Mike and he immediately put money down on that horse and, sure enough, he won. Pretty nuts.

Anyway, this weekend we will be doing some more celebrating of my wonderful mother-in-law* and her entry into a new decade, strutting our pups around Hessel Park for the CCHS Mutt Strutt, getting ready for a baby shower that I'm co-hosting (stay tuned for all of the fun things that I'm putting together for this "Little Man" event - from sweet treats to fun design items to tasty snacks), watching the Derby with our friends, and trying to squeeze in some more living room renovating.

* My fabulous mother-in-law turned 60 on Wednesday. She is quite a character, that one. She's charming, smart, caring, energetic, zany, young at heart, giving, and most of all, loved.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!
xo

All dressed up

You may recall that I recently did a mass closet cleaning and pared down my wardrobe significantly. Well, part of that was a challenge to myself to wear the clothes that I love more often rather than saving them for special occasions.

Today I chose a great suit-style, black sleeveless dress - with pockets, no less. It's a dress I've owned for probably seven years and have only worn twice. I dressed it up with my grandmother's pearls and fun pair of yellow, grey, and black color block heels. Consequently, I have received numerous comments and compliments. Compliments sure make you smile, don't they? Man, those are great. And, the comments, they have had me laughing...

On the elevator ride up this morning, two women, after commenting on how dressed up I was, listed all the reasons why they thought this was so. Was it a job interview? A funeral? A hot date? Even my boss asked me if I was going on an interview. Haha, it was all too funny.

Do you ever dress up just for fun? I love to!

Here are 25 reasons for the younger set to dress up. My favorite: "Because someday when you have a 9-5 corporate job and are required to wear business suits, you’re going to miss the freedom of dress you had in college. Experiment now! There’s no better time." Cute. :)

Happy Thursday!

photo via

Off and running

A little cuteness for your weekend...
It's been quite a busy week. I've been up to my eyeballs in web training classes all week long. I've learned a ton, but am definitely ready to take a break from staring at a computer screen.

This is a big weekend. I am running the Illinois Marathon with my "daddy daughter" relay team. Despite having done absolutely no training whatsoever, I'm pretty pumped for the race. Me, Craig, Tom, and Emily are going to tear it up. :) Then the fun part... celebrating! Hopefully the rain holds off for the race - mainly for Bob's sake while running the full marathon, but also for our friends' cookout afterward. And, to top off the weekend, Sunday I'll be doing my first maternity shoot. Yay!

I hope you have a swell weekend, too!

p.s. Like my new header?

p.p.s. In case you haven't seen them yet, check out my beautiful nieces in our recent photo shoot. Aren't they gorgeous?

cuteness via